Celebrity Status
by AwesomeButNotCompletelySaneD1s
Summary: AU; Marvel wins the 74th Hunger Games. What happens when he gets back home? (Title inspired by the song by Marianas Trench)
1. Chapter 1: The Final Fight

**Hello readers! Let me just express how happy I am that you chose this fanfiction to read! This is a joint fanfic, written by me (Kate-The-Great-And-Powerful) and Jess (Wetstar), from a ton of different POVs! It is an AU, what would have happened if Marvel had won the 74th Hunger Games. Hope you enjoy reading it!**

Chapter One: The Final Fight: Garnet Sulley

He's made it so far. Too far to fall in the final fight. Of course, Cato's family must be thinking the same thing about now. But this is different. He has to make it home.

_Come on, Marvel. Just a little longer…_

I watch my friend run across the screen, pursued by a pack of bloodthirsty muttations. Cato, the boy from District 2 and Marvel's former ally, runs a few yards ahead of him. In a moment, they reach the Cornucopia and begin struggling to climb to the top. When they are finally out of reach of the mutts, who can neither jump high enough nor get a hold on the smooth metal with their claws, Cato and Marvel catch their breath. Neither of them have enough strength, from running so hard for so long, to even stand without falling. Cato tries to get to his feet immediately, and ends up back on his knees, heaving over the side of the Cornucopia.

_Get up…_

Beside me, the other victors look to be in shock, their eyes glued to the screen. Sheen is muttering something under his breath, and Hyaline looks about as sick as Cato. Neither of them has ever paid more attention to the televised Games, whether we watched from Sheen's living room, as we do now, or mentored from the Capitol.

Hy's known Marvel since he was eleven. He was her mentor's son. He was one of the first people we met as victors. And he knew the Victors' Village better than any of us.

_This is not the end._

He hasn't given up. Though Cato outmatches him in strength, Marvel has the skill to beat him, and he knows it. Both seem to regain their ability to stand at the same time, and start to fight each other on top of the golden horn.

Marvel, armed with only a knife, takes a swing at his former-ally's face with the blade. Cato reels backwards, and Marvel is able to kick his legs out from under him. The boy from District 2 hits the ground hard, slamming his head against the metal Cornucopia. For a moment he stares up at the sky, blinking rapidly, probably in an attempt to clear his vision. Marvel looks down to the knife in his hand, and then back to the weaponless, dazed tribute who was once his ally. He's hesitating.

"Kill him," growls Hy, as if Marvel can hear her through the screen, "Just kill him!"

He's too late. Cato has enough time to struggle to his feet and swing a punch. Marvel ducks under his arm, and looks down to find himself dangerously close to the Cornucopia's side. As he takes a step forward to avoid falling off, the boy from 2 throws another punch. Marvel stumbles backwards. I watch in horror as Cato grabs him by the front of his jacket and dangles him over the edge.

_This isn't happening…_

A long moment passes. Too long. The camera zooms in as Cato, who probably assumes he'll be victor, grins broadly. The left side of his face is relatively recognizable, but the right side is a bloody mess, torn by the muttations' claws and teeth. His smile is lopsided.

_You acted like friends._

I don't know where that thought comes from. I don't have the right to think that way. Plenty of allies turn on each other. I turned on my ally…

_After _she_ turned on _you_!_

Is this supposed to be my voice of reason? Because I am capable of thinking my own thoughts. I turn my attention back to the Games.

Marvel glances down at the mutts, who are jumping up to try and reach him. Suddenly, he pulls his knife up and stabs Cato in the hand.

"Ah!" The boy from 2 lets Marvel go. For a terrifying second, he falls, straight towards the ravenous wolf-mutts waiting for him on the ground. Then, he grabs hold of the Cornucopia's ridge, and pulls himself up. He's far enough away from the mutts, but not quite out of Cato's reach. The boy from 2 starts making his way towards him, being careful not to lose his footing on the horn's surface, slick with blood from their wounds. Marvel stares up at him, gripping his knife tightly. I try to figure out what he's thinking, but Marvel's always been good at hiding his emotions. No one who lives in the Victors' Village is an open book. Being their friend is an everlasting guessing game.

"You coming or what?" yells Marvel over the noise of the mutts. Cato stops abruptly, looking a combination of confused and annoyed. Once again, I can't read Marvel's expression.

_What are you doing?_

"What's he doing?" asks Sheen, practically reading my mind, as always. Hy shrugs, still looking miffed that Marvel missed his chance earlier. I turn back to the screen, where both tributes are standing on the ridge. Cato has started trying to knock Marvel over the side again. Marvel just barely dodges a swing, turns around, and grabs Cato's arm. The boy from 2 starts to yank his arm away, but Marvel is already shoving him off the golden horn.

"Sorry." The camera barely perceives Marvel's apology, which is almost drowned out by Cato's yell as he falls through the air. The moment he hits the ground, the mutts all jump to attack him. I cover my eyes, but nothing can drown out the boy from 2's agony as he's torn apart.

_What must Marvel be feeling now?_

It's probably a thousand times worse for him. I glance to the side, at the other victors. Sheen grimaces as he watches. There's a force behind Hyaline's expression as she stares at the screen, as if she's willing the boy from 2 to die. Suddenly, Cato goes silent, and one final cannon blast echoes through the arena, and through Sheen's house.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the victor of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Marvel Ryans! I give you, the tribute from District One!"

I look up. Marvel sighs in relief and leans against the Cornucopia. I hear shouts from next to me; Hyaline and Sheen are cheering like mad. I join in, grinning, as the hovercraft appears to finally take Marvel out of the arena.

Through the nearly incoherent shouting of the other victors, I get a play-by-play description of the last moments in the 74th Hunger Games. Marvel threw his knife to kill his final opponent. The door opens, and Marvel's ten-year-old sister, Crystal, runs in.

"He did it!" she exclaims over the noise.

"He did it!" I nod, still smiling. Crystal hugs me.

"Group hug!" declares Sheen a moment later, throwing his arms around us both. I laugh. Hy, never an overly sentimental person, stands by the television and pretends to be interested in Caesar Flickerman's remarks on what an exciting year this was. Crystal grabs her arm and pulls her into the group hug.

"Whoa!" she shouts. Everyone laughs, all of us relieved that Marvel will be coming back.

"How long until he's home?" asks Crystal.

"A few days," says Hyaline with a shrug, "He's not hurt so bad. They take some time to make you look like you again before presenting you to the public." Hy would know. By the time her Games ended, she was almost as bad as Cato. Even today, her face is marred with scars from the arena. She doesn't seem to mind it, usually. Of course not. She's Hy. Marvel's injuries weren't extreme, as Cato's would have been if he had somehow managed to win, so he won't need to stay very long before they let him come home.

"I'll see him again in just a few days!" says Crystal, beaming. Hy gives Crystal one of her rare smiles.

"Yep," she says, "Now let me go!" Sheen and I laugh and let go, but Crystal keeps hugging her tightly.

"Nope!"

"Um…Please?" asks Hyaline, looking uncomfortable.

"Fine," sighs Crystal, releasing her. Hy grins.

"He's coming back!" exclaims Crystal, grinning back at her.

"I know!" says Hy.

"I knew he could do it!" says Sheen.

"Of course he could!" says Crystal with a laugh. I smile and sit down on the couch, next to Sheen.

"I'm going to go see Orion! I'll see you later!" With that, she runs off to go see Marvel's best friend.

"You know, I'd say I couldn't believe it, but that'd be a lie," says Sheen. I laugh.

"That was terrifying. It's so hard to watch people go through it…"

"Hard as it is to go through it yourself?" asks Hy.

"No," I say, "But it's horrible, seeing someone you care about on the screen and knowing there's nothing you can do to help them." I hear only silence from Hyaline and Sheen, which is about as rare as both District 12 tributes making it to the final seven. Both of these incidents happened in the same week.

The reason for my depressingly true statement is that this is the first year after my victory that I have watched the Games from home. Last year, I was a mentor. The year before, I was a tribute. Now, I am a victor, and it's so much worse when you already know what it's like. When Sheen watches the Games, I can practically see his own arena flashing in front of his eyes. When Hy does, she concentrates so intently on the images, you'd think she was there herself.

I wonder if the Games will change Marvel as much as they changed the three of us.

**Suzanne Collins owns the Hunger Games, Hyaline, Sheen, and Garnet are mine, and Orion and Crystal are Jess's :)**

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Interview

**Hello readers! You haven't heard from me at all yet! I'm Jess, Kate's Canadian counterpart! I'll be writing the chapters from Marvel's POV, as well as a few other characters! Hope you like the chapter!**

** Disclaimer: Even though they wish they did, Jess and Kate do not own The Hunger Games. However Crystal Ryans and Crispus the Idiot belong to Jess, while Claudia Crane belongs to Kate. **

I push my hair back from my eyes, and Crispus immediately jumps at me, fixing my hair and scolding me. I resist the urge to punch him. He really is the most irritating stylist I could have gotten. I satisfy myself with just rolling my eyes.

On stage, Caesar manages to finish his introduction and says "May I introduce, the victor of the 74th Hunger Games...District One's own, Marvel Ryans!" I take a deep breath, and try to make my walk onto stage the same half bounce, half walk as it was for my first interview. I think it worked, because the audience applauds, not noticing anything wrong.

Caesar stands up and shakes my hand. "Welcome back, Marvel!"

I shake his hand, squeezing a little harder than I need to, but he doesn't seem to notice. "It's good to be back."

We both take a seat, and Caesar gives me his trademark grin. " Alright, let's roll the highlights, then!"

I nod, and focus my attention on the screen, mentally preparing myself for what I'm about to see. I've already seen it once, but seeing it again is going to be even worse, especially since everyone on the screen is dead. Except for me.

First up is the tributes' parade, and I focus all my attention on the other tributes, trying to ignore how utterly stupid I look. Couldn't Crispus have thought of something that _didn't _involve pink feathers? Next, the training scores go by. I smile slightly at my nine. It's one of the only things I'll admit pride in. The bloodbath goes by, and I wince twice. Once when the screen shows me killing the boy from Eight, and once when it shows me killing the girl from Six. I'm able to keep my face neutral for the rest of the bloodbath though. The tracker jacker nest falls, and Glimmer and Marina are killed. I feel the familiar pain in my chest. Glimmer and I were somewhat friends back home. Getting used to her being dead would be hard. Katniss is shown shooting an arrow at the supplies, blowing them up. _So that's what happened... _We had always wondered. Next up on the screen is me killing Katniss and Rue. I wince. Katniss still makes me feel guilty, she was just trying to get home to her sister like me. But Rue... Every time I remember that I killed her, the guilt feels overpowering. She looked so much like Crys. Tiny and in need of protection. But if I hadn't killed her quickly, then Cato would have surely given her a much longer and painful death. Then comes the feast. The girl from Five runs in before the rest of us, grabs her bag, and races off into the woods. Thresh runs in next, and Clove runs in as soon as she sees him, having been lying in wait for either him or me. They start fighting and I run in, and use the distraction to grab my pack and get out of there. Thresh stabs Clove, then runs off with the remaining packs, leaving her to bleed to death. Cato runs in and begs her to stay with him. _So they _were _in love after all... _The screen shows a quick shot of Peeta as he's dying. His leg is yellow, oozing pus, and looks absolutely disgusting. He must have died from infection. Next, it shows the girl from Five picking poisonous berries and eating them, looking directly at the camera in a way that makes me sure that she knew they were poisonous. Cato finds Thresh next, and manages to kill him. And finally, it gets to the mutt scene. The horrible wolf like mutts, with tribute eyes find Cato and another bunch find me, and start chasing us to the Cornucopia. And I watch, for the second time, as I throw Cato off the Cornucopia and into the mutts, sending my knife after him a minute later. I force myself not to close my eyes, knowing that that would make me seem weak, something the Capitol is not expecting right now. They want someone cocky, filled with pride that they just won the Games. And I'm going to have to do my best to deliver that.

"What an exciting year! Do you agree?" Caesar asks me.

I try to put on my usual carefree grin. "Of course, every year's exciting!"

"This one especially," he turns to the audience. "Wouldn't you all agree?"

The audience cheers, and Caesar turns back to me. "Now Marvel. What would you say was the turning point of this year's Games?"

"The turning point? Definitely the supplies being blown up. There on in, it was anyone's game."

"Definitely. Who do you think was your biggest competition? Besides Cato, of course."

"Surprisingly enough, Katniss."

Caesar nods, obviously going for a nostalgic look. "Ah, yes... We'll certainly remember the Girl on Fire."

I nod in agreement. "Definitely."

"So, what are you most looking forward to, once you get back home?"

"Seeing my sister again." No hesitation. No doubt. I can't wait to be home and make sure that Crystal's alright.

Caesar nods and smiles. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you, too."

I grin. "She better be."

"Have you been enjoying the Capitol more, now that you don't have the Games to worry about?"

"It doesn't look that different to me," I say with a shrug.

Caesar looks surprised. "No?"

"Still just as magnificent as it was the first time around." The audience cheers at my comment, and I grin back at them.

"Do you have anything to say? Whether it's to our lovely audience in the Capitol or to the viewers in the districts?" Caesar asks.

"No, I don't think so."

"Then I believe it's time to say a final farewell," he turns to the audience. "Let's wish our new victor the best of luck on his return!"

The audience cheers for what feels like the millionth time, and I relax, relief at the interview being over filling me. Caesar shakes my hand again, and when he talks, it sounds like he's addressing me instead of the audience. "You did well Marvel. Congratulations."

I smile, not expecting this kind of support. "Thanks."

Caesar nods and goes to close the show, while I walk off stage. As soon as I get backstage, Crispus practically jumps me, and starts annoying the heck out of me.

"Marvel."

I turn around and jump. Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker is standing there, along with a girl who looks about eight or nine. "I'm Seneca Crane," he says, as if I didn't already know this.

"I know. You tried to light me on fire in the arena," I say, referencing the forest fire that the rest of the Careers and I had to outrun during the Games.

"Nothing personal, of course. The forest fire affected most of the other tributes as well, as you saw in the highlights. I just came by to congratulate you on your victory. My daughter is a big fan of yours." The girl beside him goes red.

I crouch down so I'm at her height. "Hi."

"I'm Claudia. Can I have your autograph?" She holds out a piece of paper and a pen.

I'm slightly confused, but decide to go along with it. "Um, sure?"

She smiles at me like I've just done something amazing. "Thank you!"

"No problem." I grin, noticing her teal coloured bangs, the only part of her that appears to have been cosmetically altered. "Nice bangs."

Claudia looks almost ready to burst with excitement. "Really? Thanks!" She pauses for a second, before saying "I thought you were really brave in the Games."

I smile back. "Thanks."

"Come on, Claudia. We should head home," Seneca says.

Claudia looks disappointed. "Oh... Okay."

I smile at her as I stand back up. "I'll see you later." I hope it's true. She seems like a sweet kid, not very much like the other Capitol people I've met so far.

"Bye..." Claudia waves as she leaves with her father.

I head into the elevator and press the button for the District One floor, hoping that the rest of the aftermath of the Games continues to go smoothly.


End file.
